There is a lot of talk in the search engine optimisation community about what you should do to your site to get your rankings up. There’s also a fair amount of talk about the things you shouldn’t do. What there isn’t much talk about is the subtle nature of the space that lies between.

Subtlety should play a big part in a site’s optimisation. All too often, it plays no part at all. If you fail to keep a light hand when making SEO touches, it can mean that your campaign is less effective. Even worse, too-heavy SEO can result in your website being penalised, placing you in an even worse situation than before.

There are all sorts of ways to get into trouble through lack of SEO subtlety, and it’s not just a case of packing in your keywords. Although keyword stuffing is a very common mistake, making your keywords too obvious can be equally problematic. A lot of websites throw their keywords around as if they were grass seeds on a barren lawn. For example, with the keyword ‘computer software update’ and some locality keywords:

‘Want to get your computer software update into gear? We provide computer software updates for the whole of Australia. Find computer software update Melbourne, computer software update Sydney, computer software update Perth…’

This is an example of a keyword insertion style that is unfortunately common. Although this sample is keyword stuffing, similar styles with fewer keywords use the words in such a way that it is obvious that their purpose is SEO. This style isn’t attractive to internet users, and it’s likely to put the search engines off.

Why is obvious SEO likely to deter search engines? As with most SEO, there isn’t any solid evidence that it will, but it’s a trend that optimisation experts have recognised. The theory is that the search engines, ever wary of manipulation, avoid promoting pages that have been obviously optimised. Sticking with something more natural-seeming is a better way to go.

The areas site owners most fall into trouble is with their anchor text, alt text, and main content. There are, of course, plenty of other areas in which to go astray. When it comes to these areas, though, it’s a good idea to use keywords as sparingly and naturally as possible.

Search engine optimisation requires a light touch, one that really can only be gained through testing, experimenting and experience. It’s this latter part that makes the hiring of an SEO company a good move. Although there are many things you can do for yourself for SEO, the experience of a professional is what you’re really hiring when you get an SEO company on board. You can talk to our experts at SEO Consult Australia about the difference a professional eye can make.

Most of the time, you can avoid problems with your site’s optimisation by applying common sense. If you look at your pages and your keywords stand out, they probably will for the search engines. Concentrate on your site’s quality, with SEO as a guide rather than a hard line.